The OAS and Overcoming Poverty
1. Overcoming poverty is still the major challenge for
the hemisphere.
2. Overcoming poverty: a political priority
3. Anti-poverty activities of the OAS
4. A new role for the OAS in overcoming poverty.
1.0
Overcoming poverty is still the major challenge for the hemisphere.
1.1 Over the past fifteen years, Latin America and the Caribbean have experienced
far-reaching political and economic changes that have manifest themselves in the
consolidation of democracy and in a thorough process of macroeconomic adjustment and
structural reform. As a result, we find today for the most part governments that come to
power through the electoral process, and societies where the rule of law has been
strengthened and where progress in respect for human rights is protected by constitutional
guarantees. The new economic stability that has been achieved as a result of the
adjustment process is reflected in positive growth rates, a more dynamic export sector,
significantly reduced inflation, rising foreign investment and new impetus towards
economic integration.
1.2 In spite of these achievements, however, progress on the social front has been
advancing at a notably slower pace. In effect, at the mid-point of the present decade,
some 39% of all Latin American and Caribbean households were living in poverty - a figure
that was higher than the 35% that prevailed at the beginning of the 1980s. In absolute
terms, it is calculated that 210 million people within the region are poor, and this is a
record high figure. The poverty phenomenon in the Americas has a number of special
features, among which are its increasingly urban nature - 65% of the poor are city
dwellers - and its close relationship to unequal income distribution. In fact, it has been
noted that a significant proportion of poverty in the region is the consequence of the
uneven distribution of wealth: in some countries, the richest 10% of the population
receives more than 50% of national income, while the poorest 40% receive less than 10%.
1.3 Among the most dramatic manifestations of poverty are the precarious employment
situation of vast segments of the population, where open unemployment affects more than
16% of those who are considered economically active, and where employment in the informal
sector of the economy accounts for 55% of non-farm workers, a group typified by low
incomes, unstable jobs, lack of social protection and low productivity. The most perverse
effects of the situation fall upon the groups most at risk, and in particular on women and
children. Women are disproportionately represented among the poor, the unemployed and the
under-employed, and a significant portion of them must in addition play the role of
household head, particularly among indigenous peoples. As to children, not only must they
face the traditional risks of poverty-related mortality and morbidity, but they are now
exposed to the damaging effects of various forms of exploitation, such as sexual abuse,
involvement in armed conflicts, child labor and the temptation to engage in criminal
activities.
1.4 The Latin American and Caribbean Social Development Commission has singled out the
poverty that afflicts nearly one half of the region's inhabitants as the major obstacle to
development, and a threat to social peace and political stability. It adds that the
consolidation of democracy in the region stands under a threat, if constitutional
governments elected by the people cannot show themselves capable of effectively improving
living conditions for their poor. It concludes by warning that if we do not launch a
frontal assault on poverty, we cannot discount the risk of new forms of subversion or
authoritarian adventures.
1.5 The priority that has been assigned to combating poverty has been accompanied during
the present decade by a profound re-thinking of the role of the State in these efforts.
Generally speaking, we have moved beyond the concepts that held sway at one time or
another during the region's recent history: the State as an all-powerful, centralized
"planner", or the "minimalist" State that leaves to the market most of
the task of allocating resources for social development. Currently, a number of approaches
are being formulated and tested in an effort to make State action more effective and more
efficient, and to encourage a real participation by civil society in designing, applying
and monitoring public policies and social programs. Decentralization and desconcentration,
social investment funds, and new mechanisms to ensure greater citizen participation in all
stages of community undertakings are examples of these new approaches.
1.6 The major structural reforms that have been undertaken in the region - trade
liberalization, tax reform, financial reform, privatization, labor reform and pension
reform - have at last produced the macroeconomic balance that was necessary, and have
allowed growth rates to recover. Yet it is well understood that higher growth is a
necessary but not a sufficient condition for reducing inequalities. While it is essential
to maintain and even to go further in some elements of economic reform, it is equally
crucial to give more priority to social reforms, in order to ensure greater efficiency and
equity in the provision of social services, and to invest significantly more resources in
the development of human and social capital, compared with the emphasis that has been
devoted over recent years to traditional forms of capital accumulation. It must be
recalled that human capital has to do with the quality of human resources, while social
capital relates to qualitative elements such as shared values, culture and the ability to
create networks and synergy within society.
1.7 Creating human capital implies investing systematically and continuously in such areas
as education, health and nutrition. As we approach the end of the century, investment in
education has in fact become one of the most profitable forms of investment, in light of
the key role that education plays not only in the productive process, but also in building
citizenship and underpinning democracy.
2.0 Overcoming poverty: a
political priority
2.1 Overcoming poverty has now assumed a high political priority within the overall
concerns of government, society, and international agencies, as is clear from the
following initiatives and activities that have been carried out in recent years.
2.2 The Heads of State and Government, at the 1994 Summit of the Americas in Miami, gave
priority to resolving poverty issues.
2.3 In the United Nations framework, a World Summit on Social Development was held in
Copenhagen, in March of 1995, to examine and seek solutions to poverty issues worldwide.
2.4 Within our hemisphere, there have been a number of initiatives as well, such as:
(i) The meeting of ministers
responsible for social development under the Rio Group, held in Buenos Aires, in May 1995;
(ii) The Regional Technical Meeting in follow-up to the agreements of the World Summit on
Social Development, held in Quito, in November 1995;
(iii) The Inter-American Technical Seminar on Programs for Overcoming Poverty, held in
Buenos Aires, in December 1995;
(iv) The Conference on Social Development, as part of the Ibero-American Summit of Heads
of State and Government, held in Iquique in 1996;
(v) The Caribbean Ministerial Meeting for the Eradication of Poverty, held in Port of
Spain in October-November, 1996; and
(vi) The First High-Level Meeting on Social Development, held under OAS auspices in
Washington, in February 1997.
2.5 In order to ensure follow-up to the Copenhagen meeting, it was agreed that the
regional commissions of the United Nations, together with regional organizations and
development banks, should hold a high-level policy meeting every two years to assess
progress in applying the Summit's decisions, to exchange views and experiences and to take
appropriate measures. In this regard, the First Regional Conference in Follow-Up to the
World Summit on Social Development was held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in March 1997. It was
organized by ECLAC , with support from the OAS and the IDB, among others, and undertook a
review of strategies to be followed in combating poverty at the hemispheric level.
2.6 Within this setting, there is today a clear need to join efforts and coordinate
activities in the search for greater efficiency, impact and synergy in combating poverty.
The bodies of the inter-American system will have to redouble their efforts to ensure that
their activities are truly complementary, and to draw upon the comparative advantages and
areas of specialization that exist in the system's various agencies. In this respect, the
OAS will continue its efforts to design anti-poverty initiatives that will help to
reinforce and mobilize a regional strategy for overcoming this scourge. This is the thrust
of the activities it now has underway jointly with the IDB and with other regional and
international organizations.
3.0 Anti-poverty activities of
the OAS
3.1 In the face of this challenge, the General Assembly, the Permanent Council and the
General Secretariat of the Organization of American States have adopted a number of action
measures to support member countries in their efforts to overcome poverty. They have
already generated a wide range of valuable experience in this regard, as detailed below.
3.2 The member countries of the OAS have defined the conquest of poverty as one of their
major objectives. The Protocols of Washington 91992) and of Managua (1993), the Special
Session of the General Assembly in Mexico (1994), the Summit on Sustainable Development,
held in Santa Cruz de la Sierra (1996), the Declaration of Montrois (1995) and the
Consensus of Panama (1996) have all served to reiterate that social development is one of
today's fundamental challenges, for our member countries and for the region as a whole.
3.3 The Unit for Social Development and Education (UDSE). In support of hemispheric
efforts to promote social development, the Secretary General of the OAS created the UDSE
in June of 1996, with the central purpose of supporting member state governments in
formulating social and education policies, in implementing social and educational programs
and measures, and in encouraging hemispheric dialogue on the problems associated with
social development, overcoming poverty, and promoting education, manpower training and
employment. UDSE provides secretariat services to the Social Development Committee of the
Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CIDI) and as such is responsible for
making all arrangements necessary to the Committee's functioning. UDSE also works with the
CIDI Executive Secretariat in carrying out technical cooperation activities in member
states of the Organization. UDSE works in close association with the various dependencies
of the OAS General Secretariat and the OAS specialized bodies. As well, it has
consultative relationships for exchange and mutual support with international and regional
organizations devoted to technical and financial cooperation that are active in the fields
of education, employment, social integration and overcoming poverty.
3.4 The Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CIDI) of the OAS, through its
Permanent Executive Committee (CEPCIDI), has established a Social Development Committee,
the central purpose of which is to promote sustainable social development and to overcome
poverty. At its first high-level meeting, convened in Washington in February 1997 for the
purpose of defining a set of social development policies for the OAS, ministers and heads
of delegation of member countries agreed upon an Inter-American Program to Combat Poverty
and Discrimination. It has two chief objectives. The first is to strengthen inter-American
dialogue on economic and social development, so as to promote the analysis and exchange of
information and experiences in countries of the region, and to engage in this process not
only the economic and political but also the social sectors of each country. The second is
to identify specific areas for cooperation within the framework of the OAS and other
international agencies and institutions, with a view to stimulating institutional
development and modernizing social policy so as to promote social investment that will
benefit the most needy segments of society. This Inter-American Program is an integral
part of the OAS Strategic Plan for Partnership for Development 1997-2001. It includes a
Plan of Action covering the next four years, within which four substantive areas of
priority have been identified: (a) modernizing public institutions and social management,
for 1998; (b) strengthening mechanisms for the participation of civil society in
overcoming poverty and discrimination, for 1999; (c) promoting and financing social
investment, for the year 2000; and (c) for the year 2001, strategies and programs to
overcome marginalization and discrimination against indigenous peoples and other groups at
risk.
3.5 The Inter-American Program to Combat Poverty and Discrimination was subsequently
approved in March 1997 by the Second Regular Meeting of the Inter-American Council for
Integral Development (CIDI) and was ratified by the OAS General Assembly at its
twenty-seventh regular session in Lima, in June 1997. The UDSE is responsible for
providing technical secretariat services for these meetings, and for maintaining the
institutional memory, while providing periodic reports to member states, through CEPCIDI,
on the progress achieved. Similarly, it is expected to respond to requests for studies and
for coordinating the preparation of technical documents that will serve as a basis for the
work of implementing the guidelines set out in the Inter-American Program. Finally, the
UDSE has the mandate to establish and keep updated a database of information on social
development issues, to support actions by the member states.
3.6 Partnership cooperation for social development has been the major focus of the support
provided to member countries as a whole over the last few years. These efforts have
included the following activities conducted by the Unit for Social Development and
Education (UDSE).
3.7 Support for social investment funds, through the Social Network of Latin America and
the Caribbean. The Third Annual Conference of the Social Network was held in Panama in
1996, and decided to establish a Permanent Technical Secretariat, a task that was formally
assigned to the OAS Unit for Social Development and Education, which had been cooperating
with the Network since its creation at the beginning of the decade. On the basis of the
Declaration of Panama, a work plan for 1997 was drawn up, as a framework for a series of
cooperative activities to be carried out this year, and which have represented the focus
of work for the Social Network's technical secretariat.
In close cooperation with the Office of the Chair of the Coordinating Committee and with
the member countries of the Coordinating Committee, activities have been pursued in three
primary areas.
The first has been to promote the exchange of experience and knowledge through the process
of on-the-job training and horizontal cooperation. The so-called "internships"
for social investment fund officials have been very productive, and reports suggest that
they have borne excellent results. During the year, the OAS funded 30 internships.
A second area of activity has been to plan, organize, conduct and assess training seminars
and workshops. During 1997 a number of such events were held: (a) Seminar on the InterRed,
held in Roatán, Honduras, in February, attended by 31 participants from 15 member
countries. (b) Seminar on monitoring social programs and projects, held in Buenos Aires,
Argentina, in March, attended by 122 participants from 18 member countries. (c) Seminar on
evaluating the impact of social programs and projects, held in San José, Costa Rica, in
July, attended by 146 participants from 18 member countries; and (d) Seminar on social
participation and municipal capacity building for overcoming poverty, held in Mexico City
in September, attended by 61 participants from 21 member countries.
As can be seen from these four activities, some 400 officials from social investment funds
and institutions have been given training in techniques for combating poverty in the
region. The OAS contributed a portion of the funding for these activities.
The third field of action has been to serve as Technical Secretariat by providing direct
organizational support and assistance for the technical, documentary and secretarial work
of the four meetings of the Coordinating Committee that were held during the year
(Roatán, Honduras, in February; Washington , DC, in May; Mexico City in September; and
Buenos Aires in November). Similarly, the OAS cooperated with the Social Development
Ministry of Argentina in hosting, financing and providing technical secretariat services
for the Fourth Annual Conference of the Social Network (Buenos Aires, November, 1997). As
well, it
assembled and disseminated worldwide information on the Social Network, its aims,
functions and activities. The UDSE publishes quarterly reports on its activities, which
are distributed to all countries in hard copy and via the Internet.
3.8 Course on social policy training and management in the Caribbean. The Unit organized
two courses on social policy training and management for member countries of the
Caribbean, in cooperation with the IDB's Inter-American Institute for Social Development
(INDES) and the University of the West Indies (UWI). The courses, held in Trinidad and
Tobago and in the Bahamas, were given to more than 90 middle-ranking and senior managers
and social policy personnel from governmental and non-governmental bodies. The courses
were conducted by professors from UWI and INDES. The project is being supervised by UDSE
and cooperation funds are used to offer bursaries for participants and to cover teaching
costs, while INDES and UWI provide the actual instruction.
3.9 Regional conference on youth enterprise and development. The Unit worked together with
the CARICOM Secretariat and the Ministry of Education and Youth Affairs of Barbados to
host a regional conference on Youth Enterprise and Development, held in Barbados this past
October. The conference was co-sponsored by the United Nations Youth Fund. This was the
fifth biennial conference on youth enterprise and training in non-formal skills that the
OAS has sponsored in the Caribbean region since 1988. The Unit provided 45 bursaries to
the national directors of youth development and to leaders of youth groups in the region.
The aim of the conference was to provide an opportunity for the exchange of information
and experience with models for promoting youth development and entrepreneurship, and to
assess areas for future focus in the program. The conference included a series of
workshops on project design, gender issues, networking, collecting funds, Internet
resources and youth participation in civil society.
3.10 Conference on youth and cooperatives: "The Third Millennium Belongs to Us".
The Unit worked together with the International Alliance of Cooperatives and the
Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture in co-hosting this conference. The
event was held in November in Mexico City, jointly with the annual meeting of the
International Alliance of Cooperatives. The Conference was a preparatory meeting for the
Continental Forum on Youth and Cooperatives, to be held in 1998. In support of the
Conference, the OAS is sponsoring publication of a web page on the Internet, with links to
other sites dealing with youth, employment, cooperatives and entrepreneurship.
3.11 The Americas Fund To extend support for OAS work in member countries, the Unit has
undertaken to explore an initiative with a view to measuring private sector interest in
social development. An initial survey of corporate employers in the United States has been
launched, and results are expected by the end of the year. On the basis of these results,
the Unit will prepare a preliminary document suggesting future lines of action under this
initiative. The project is expected to run in parallel with other, similar initiatives
that are now in the planning stage, within the Executive Secretariat for Integral
Development, aimed at the possible creation of a foundation in the OAS that would provide
partnership cooperation with the private sector. In this context, the Unit is looking into
establishment of a trust fund, tentatively called the "Youth Entrepreneurship Fund of
the Americas", to support training in business skills and the development of
micro-businesses in the Caribbean and the Americas.
3.12 Prospectus for the "Youth Entrepreneurship Fund of the Americas". UDSE is
developing this initiative in the hope of enlisting private sector support and involvement
in providing skills training for young, small-scale entrepreneurs in the Caribbean and the
Americas. To this end, the Fund offers a framework in which government and the private
sector can work together to select and develop model business administration programs. The
significance of such public-private collaboration lies in the potential for offering
practical training and more accessible and effective programs, for example, in giving
young entrepreneurs the skills they will need to carry out effective business strategies,
and creating an environment that encourages enterprise start-up and growth. The program
stresses the importance of having a pool of properly trained personnel, as a priority
policy for private sector development.
3.13 International Meeting and Regional Consultation on Social Investment Funds. The Unit
sponsored, in cooperation with the World Bank's Economic Development Institute, the
Inter-American Development Bank and the Social Network of Latin America and the Caribbean,
the organizing of an international seminar on social investment funds, that was held in
Washington last May. Its primary objectives were to analyze the experience that has been
built up over a decade of working with social investment funds, to assess their impact on
efforts to eradicate poverty, and to facilitate the regional and international exchange of
ideas and expertise among social funds. More than 200 delegates from all parts of the
world took part in the event. The Unit also organized a regional consultative meeting on
the last day of the seminar, at OAS headquarters, that involved the Social Network of
Latin America and the Caribbean, the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank,
and that produced a number of significant recommendations for social investment funds in
this region.
3.14 Cooperation with the Caribbean Development Bank During the year, the Unit carried on
negotiations with the Caribbean Development Bank in Barbados, with a view to enhancing
cooperation in the area of youth training and in the development of social investment
funds for the Caribbean region. Through the Social Network of Latin America and the
Caribbean, the OAS has enjoyed access to the extensive expertise of social fund
practitioners, and has at the same time contributed to planning work within the Caribbean
Development Bank, and to regional mechanisms for monitoring the basic needs of investment
funds.
3.15 Caribbean Ministerial Meeting on Poverty. The Unit took an active part in the
Caribbean Ministerial Meeting on Poverty, held under the auspices of the Economic
Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Subregional Office for the
Caribbean, and other international organizations. The purpose of the meeting was to
coordinate strategic programs for the eradication of poverty in the region, and to lay the
basis for future OAS work over the longer term. The results of these national and
subregional consultations will be used as input to the General Secretariat's
Inter-American Program to Combat Poverty.
3.16 Inter-American Working Group on Youth Development. The Unit has continued to take
part, along with officials of the Unit for the Promotion of Democracy and CICAD, in the
Inter-American Working Group on Youth Development, an inter-institutional forum that is
examining ways of expanding cooperation on youth development programs. A joint financial
profile has been prepared and is under consideration for a series of pilot projects on
micro-enterprise, social development, training for young workers, and funding for youth
groups through small donations. Financing will be provided by the Inter-American
Development Bank, the International Youth Foundation and the Inter-American Foundation;
the OAS has not as yet committed resources for this purpose. Pilot projects are under
consideration for Ecuador and Paraguay, as well as one for the countries of Central
America and the Caribbean.
3.17 Agreement between the OAS and ECLAC. Under an agreement signed between the two
organizations, the Unit has been working with ECLAC to develop a "Program of Social
Policies in Latin America and the Caribbean" (PROPOSAL), the main purpose of which is
to strengthen institutional capacities and human resources in countries seeking to design
and implement social policies and to formulate social programs and projects. During the
past year, work has continued on research projects in the areas of social, health and
education management, drawing on the services of short-term consultants. In particular,
support was provided for the following projects: (a) Programming and assessment of social
programs and projects for creating a system of institutional support, based on cost-impact
analysis methodologies. (b) Methodological review and supplementary analysis required for
projects related to the inter-American course on training and evaluation, sponsored by the
OAS and ECLAC. (c) Estimates of effective demand for health care at the municipal or
community level. (d) Incorporation of morbidity rates into studies on social development
at the local level; and (e) development of systems of informational indicators for the
design of social projects. By means of this mechanism, work is continuing in the social
research area, and the results are being publicized through joint publications.
4.0 A new role for the
OAS in overcoming poverty.
4.1 In light of the political mandates from its member countries, the experience that has
been acquired by the Organization's own bodies, and the efforts of the General
Secretariat, a new role is emerging for the OAS, with increased emphasis on its capacity
to serve as a coordination forum and to provide technical support to countries in their
efforts to overcome poverty. This new role can be defined in terms of three areas of
action: as a political forum, as a force for strengthening inter-American cooperation, and
as an instrument for promoting institutional coordination at the hemispheric level.
4.2 Political forum. The OAS should work through CIDI, as its high-level political forum,
to promote inter-American dialogue, the exchange of experience, and partnership
cooperation, and to move forward in the search for solutions to the social problems
afflicting the peoples of the hemisphere, with particular attention to overcoming poverty
and discrimination. Specifically, CIDI's Social Development Committee has as its primary
purposes those of strengthening inter-American dialogue in support of policy formulation,
and undertaking cooperative action in social issues aimed at overcoming poverty and
discrimination. UDSE will provide technical secretariat services to meetings of this
Committee. Member countries may wish to strengthen that body further.
4.3 Strengthening the Partnership for Development. Working through CIDI and UDSE, the
Organization will provide support to member states that so request in formulating and
implementing projects for cooperation in the social field, in particular those aimed at
overcoming poverty. To this end, the Organization's capacity to promote horizontal
cooperation needs to be reinforced, so that it can serve as an intermediary in identifying
the supply of and the demand for cooperation. For 1998, the Partnership Program of CIDI
will be put into operation. UDSE will provide the technical support needed to carry out
several specific projects. This type of action could be extended further in coming years.
4.4 Promoting and expanding institutional coordination. The Social Development Committee,
as part of the existing framework of cooperation and coordination between the OAS and the
various bodies, organs and entities of the inter-American system and the United Nations,
such as the IDB, PAHO, IICA, UNDP, ECLAC, CARICOM, and other regional and subregional
agencies, institutions and programs in the hemisphere, should promote and expand
coordination and complementarity of activities and resources on behalf of social
development projects, in particular those aimed at overcoming poverty. Similarly, the
Social Development Committee will encourage the establishment of mechanisms of information
and coordination with the Inter-American Conference of Labor Ministers, the Inter-American
Forum of Education Ministers, the Conference of the Social Network of Latin America and
the Caribbean, the hemispheric meeting of ministers responsible for science and
technology, the Inter-American Commission of Women, and other relevant forums. These
mechanisms will be designed to facilitate complementarity among their efforts and to help
them to take a comprehensive view of their objectives, activities and commitments in the
social development area. UDSE is already engaged in such activities, and these could be
expanded and reinforced.
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